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◂︎ Mandy & Lexi's Connecticut Adventures
Plainfield
Moosup Valley State Park Trail
Date visited: 4/26/2021
Moosup Valley Trail is another of those State Park Rails To Trails deals, starting in Plainfield, going through Sterling and continuing into Rhode Island where it becomes the Trestle Trail. Unfortunately this one isn't nearly as nice, or as well maintained as the Hop River Trail, Air-Line Trail, or Larkin Bridle Path. First of all, there is no signage to indicate that this is a state park linear trail. Secondly, it seems that the state abandoned it completely. Large sections are muddy, with rocky side trails that require a climb to avoid the mud. There was litter and empty beer cans everywhere. Lastly, the trail has been taken over by ATV's, as it seems like that is all it is used for these days. We encountered three people on ATV's while we were there. I went to the official website to find out where to park, and it certainly looked like it was still an active state park, but you would never know it once you get there. The picture on the bridge in front of the man-made waterfall was taken near where we parked, a few yards from the trail.
Moosup Valley State Park Trail
Date visited: 4/2/2025
We came back to this trail, almost four years later. Back then, the trail was in rough shape. Since then, in 2023 & 2024, the trail has been fixed up. It has been resurfaced, drainage issues have been addressed, street crossings have been improved, and new signage has been installed. The trail is up to par with other multi-town rail trails now. The really rough stretch in 2021 is actually paved now, with water run-off routed through pipes under the trail. It's actually quite a bit of engineering. We started from the east, entering from Sterling, and headed west. I was planning on turning around when we reached the waterfall near Brunswick Avenue crossing. Since we got an early start, it was a cool day, and the trail is an easy walk, we decided to go the extra mile to the west end of the trail in Moosup Village. This last mile was pretty boring. It is paved after the Barber Hill Road crossing. This is the old portion of the trail, and it doesn't look like any new work was done on it, but it didn't really need any. Some new signage would be nice. When we reached the end, there is no signage indicating that the trail starts here. Other than that, this is a really great trail now, and a wholesale improvement from our previous visit. Including the section we walked in Sterling, we wound up walking a bit over 7 miles on this adventure, but it was an easy 7 miles.
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Fitz
Preserve
Date visited: 4/8/2022
We visited the Children's Discovery Trail at Fitz Preserve. The preserve is owned by Wyndham Land Trust (Yes, the Trust uses that spelling for Windham). Their web page says the trail is an "easy 20 minute hike", so I naturally assumed it would be about a mile long. It was only about three tenths of a mile and took about 8 minutes, even with stopping to take pictures. There are some educational signs along the trail for kids, explaining the plants and animals that can be found in the area.
Sugarbrook State Park
Date visited: 4/8/2022
There is no signage or anything indicating that this is a State Park. The GPS sent us down a bumpy, dirt road to get to the parking lot. There are a bunch of trails here. We didn't follow the All-Trails route, because we arrived too late to fit in a 4 mile hike. Instead, we hiked the trail that runs along the edge of a meadow, into the woods down to the Quinebaug River. We used a different trail to get back to the meadow, hiking about a mile and half in total.
Rotary Park
Date visited: 1/7/2025
There is no real adventure here. We were simply nearby running an errand, and noticed this small park in the Moosup section of town that still had a Christmas Tree up in the gazebo. Since the Santa hats were still in the car, we decided to take a couple more Christmas photos.
